Kain's Gambit
by Smoke
Summary: Just a drabble about Kain's thoughts as he guides Raziel towards his destiny. I guess you would call it a novelization of certain scenes.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own most of this. I do not own Legacy of Kain, any of the characters, or any of the dialog. I did write out observations.

Kain sat on his throne in the Sanctuary of the Clans, the seat of his once-glorious empire. Like the empire, the building itself was crumbing. He had contemptuously had it built around the ruins of the Pillars, which he had destroyed by refusing to sacrifice his own life. Centuries ago, he had made a choice to sacrifice his son for a chance to save the world.

Raziel's destiny was to become a soul-devouring entity, and then sent into the past to be trapped within the sword that Kain now held. However, Kain had found a loophole to loosen destiny's hold on his firstborn, to give him the ability to overcome his terrible fate if he chose to.

Raziel stepped through the doors, now a tattered corpse. The doors slammed shut behind him, and he turned and crouched as if they were the danger. It seemed as if he had lost much of his bravado.

Kain felt that it was time to make his presence known. "Raziel."

Raziel turned towards the throne and jumped back, ready to attack. "Kain!"

"The abyss has been unkind." Kain languidly stood. He hated to see what his actions had done to his first-born, his favorite. All that was left of his beautiful Raziel was this monstrosity. He strode towards the center of the room as Raziel approached.

"I am your creation, Kain. Now, as before, you criticize your own work," Raziel spat.

Kain accepted the fault for his actions, as necessary as they were, but he said nothing. The only way to convince Raziel that it was for the good of the world was to let him form his own conclusions.

Raziel barely took a breath before demanding, "What have you done with my clan, degenerate? You have no right..."

"What I have made, I can also destroy, child," Kain said, cutting him off. While he hadn't ordered the other clans to attack the Razielim, he did nothing to stop his other children from decimating them. Kain had abandoned the empire to its own whims that very night, and it had swiftly fallen apart without his iron control. It had been inevitable, so he decided not to fight that.

"Damn you, Kain! You are not God! This act of genocide is unconscionable!"

Kain knew that Raziel had a right to be angry, but that didn't stop him from becoming angry in return. "Conscience...? You dare speak to me of conscience? Only when you have felt the full gravity of choice should you dare to question my judgment!"

Kain knew that he should remain in control of himself, but it had never been easy. He stepped forward, forcing Raziel back. "Your life's span is a flicker compared to the mass of doubt and regret that I have borne since Mortanius first turned me from the light... To know that the fate of the world hangs dependent on the advisedness of my every deed... Can you even begin to conceive what action you would take, in my position?" He was aware that spittle had begun to fly from his lips.

Raziel reacted the way he had always had when Kain began to lose his temper. He stood strong, looked his master in the eye, and talked with a cold detachment. "I would choose integrity, Kain."

The trick still worked, and Kain was able to regain his composure. He laughed as he wondered how he could ever function again without Raziel to counter his unbalanced tendencies. Even if his child could avert his fate, it was unlikely that he would assume a role in Kain's court once again. It seemed hopeless.

"Look around you, Raziel. See what has become of our empire. Witness the end of an age. The clans, scattered to the corners of Nosgoth..." Kain trailed off. He was giving too much away. "This place has outlasted its usefulness, as have you."

Kain was aware that the fate of the world was now mostly Raziel's burden. He was also aware that he was repeating Ariel's cruelty, sending a successor on a quest that could end with his death without telling him the whole truth. Kain hoped that it would turn out different this time. He drew his sword.

Raziel held his ground for a moment, and then sensibly stepped back to put more distance between himself and his attacker. After all, everyone who had gone against the Soul Reaver in Kain's hands had died.

Kain could have struck Raziel down immediately, but he decided to draw out the battle for a time. As he established his empire, Kain had realized that he loved a challenge, and decided not to use his full abilities if he didn't have to. Kain also felt that Raziel deserved to feel his blood on his claws as a small recompense for what he had gone through.

Eventually, Kain tired of the game, having been wounded in hatred more than he liked. He would have continued it for hours, not wanting to push Raziel towards his true destiny just yet, but it would prove futile. Kain telekinetically drew Raziel towards him, forcing him to kneel as a supplicant, and brought the Soul Reaver down on his child's back.

Kain was surprised as he was blown back by the resulting explosion. Even though he had seen it in the streams of time, he had his doubts that it was the truth. He recovered his footing and looked on in satisfaction. Raziel was wounded, but technically alive. "The blade is vanquished. So it unfolds... and we are a step closer to our destinies." He laughed as he teleported away.


	2. Chapter 2

Kain impatiently paced across the glass floors of the Chronoplast. Centuries ago, both by his own perspective and a truly chronological one, he had been fascinated by the brass machinery under his feet, lining the walls, and hanging above his head. Now, it was only a means to an end.

He had hoped that Raziel would come straight for him, but apparently his brothers' destinies to die by his hand were too strong for him to resist, though Raziel didn't have a reason to resist that urge. Kain felt each of his children dying. As Dumah died, Kain manipulated the Chronoplast to send Turel far away. Perhaps it was possible for one to be spared, though Kain still hoped that Raziel wouldn't meet his fate.

Finally, Kain sensed Raziel's coming and hid to collect himself. Kain never liked to show weakness. When Raziel strode through the double doors, Kain emerged from behind a support. "At last. I must say, I'm disappointed in your progress. I imagined you would be here sooner. Tell me, did it trouble you to murder your brothers?"

Raziel didn't falter this time. "Did it trouble you when you ordered me into the abyss?"

"No." Kain's throat tightened as he forced out the necessary lie. "I had faith in you. In your ability to hate. In your self-righteous indignation."

"Lies. You cannot have foreseen all of this."

Kain chuckled to cover his anxiety. Yes he was lying, but Raziel had guessed wrongly about the truth. Kain knew he couldn't falter now because if he did it would mean disaster for them both and the entire world. "Eternity is relentless, Raziel.

When I first stole into this chamber, centuries ago, I did not fathom the true power of knowledge. To know the future, Raziel... to see its paths and streams tracing out into the infinite... As a man, I could never have contained such forbidden truths... But each of us is so much more than we once were... Gazing out across the planes of possibility, do you not feel with all your soul how we have become like gods? And as such, are we not indivisible? As long as a single one of us stands, we are legion... That is why, when I must sacrifice my children to the void, I can do so with a clear heart..."

He'd practiced this speech enough that he almost believed it himself. Most of it was true, in a way. A single vampire could save the world, though he regretted that any of his children had to pay the price. He confidently reset the dials to the Chronoplast as he said it, having previously set them for a backup plan that would have gone into play if Raziel had been just that much more eager to kill him.

"Very poetic, Kain, but in the end you offer no more than a convenient rationalization for your crimes."

Kain paused, wondering if Raziel was right. "These chambers offer insight for those patient enough to look. In your haste to find me, perhaps you have not gazed deeply enough. Our futures are predestined. Moebius foretold mine over a millennium ago. We each play out the parts fate has written for us. We are compelled ineluctably down pre-ordained paths. Free will is an illusion."

"I have been to the Tomb of Sarafan, Kain. Your dirty secret is exposed. How could you transform a Sarafan priest into a vampire?" Raziel voice broke as he lost his temper and lunged.

Kain caught Raziel, by the throat, grimacing as he felt the lack of a jaw. Kain had anticipated one of his children would discover that. He hadn't expected it to take this long. "How could I not? One must keep his friends close, Raziel, and his enemies even closer." Kain roughly threw him to the ground. "Can you grasp the absurd beauty of the paradox? We are the same, Sarafan and vampire. With our holy wars, our obsession with Nosgoth's domination... Who better to serve me than those whose passion transcends all notions of good and evil?"

"I will not applaud your clever blasphemy. The Sarafan were saviors, defending Nosgoth from the corruption that we represent. My eyes are opened, Kain. I find no nobility in the unlife you rudely forced on my unwilling corpse." Raziel shouted again and lunged harder.

Kain grabbed Raziel by the talons this time. "You may have uncovered your past, but you know nothing of it. You think the Sarafan were noble, altruistic?" Kain threw his child harder, sending him across the room. "Don't be simple. Their agenda was the same as ours."

Raziel painfully crawled to his feet. "You are lost in a maze of moral relativism, Kain. These apparitions and portents... what game are you playing now?"

"Destiny is a game, is it not? And now you await my latest move..." Kain teleported himself to the threshold of the portal that would send both he and his child into the past. "You nearly had me, Raziel. But this is not where, or how, it ends. Fate promises more twists before this drama unfolds completely." With that, Kain stepped through the portal, where there was hope to change their destinies.


	3. Chapter 3

Kain was weary. Though it was hard to tell with all the time-travel, he hadn't had a moment's rest in over a week. He didn't need to sleep, technically, but to remain constantly alert for so long was stressful.

He had been temporarily dead, but to him it felt just the same as that time he tried to dive to the bottom of a lake as a boy. It was like he was fighting to hold his breath while struggling to reach the surface. That was why he reflexively gasped as he awoke in the demon dimension.

He had followed a compulsion that he hadn't understood, and was surprised when it led to a chance to kill Moebius again. He was sickened as his long-time foe dragged himself along his blade just to get closer.

There was still a compulsion to stay, though Kain could not figure out what he was waiting for. Curiously, he stooped over Moebius' staff and wondered how it worked. He was loath to touch the damned thing just yet, so he waved his hand over it. It seemed that it didn't react automatically to a vampiric presence.

Suddenly, Moebius stood up again. "Kain..."

Kain had reflexes honed by years of fighting, and he had his sword through Moebius chest before he even realized what the threat was. "Do you so enjoy death?"

Moebius smiled as he slumped against the wall where Kain had pinned him. He sighed he reached longingly for Kain. "Yes." Suddenly, the old man faded away to reveal...

"Raziel? No!" Kain tried to pull away, but Raziel grabbed him.

Kain didn't hear what Raziel was saying as he struggled against his child's superior strength. "No, Raziel!"

Raziel gasped in pain. "The Soul Reaver, pure of all corruption... This is what it is for. This is what I am for."

Kain flinched as Raziel brought his right talon up, but the energy that passed into him was warm and comforting. Kain brought his own talon up and clutched Raziel's hoping to provide some consolation of his own. This felt more right than anything had ever felt before.

Raziel struggled to continue. "The two become one, both Soul Reavers together, and the Scion of Balance is healed. And I am not your enemy, not your destroyer... I am, as before, your right hand. Your sword."

Understanding dawned on Kain. Raziel had found his destiny, and had chosen not to fight it. He accepted a sacrifice greater than the one that Kain had refused. Kain also felt a change within himself, but it was confusing and he didn't want to face it alone. He knew it was futile, but he had to say it anyway. "No, Raziel... This can't be the way."

Raziel collapsed as he sighed. "And now you will see the true enemy." And he was gone.

Kain felt that Raziel was with him, that all of his children were with him. What's more, Kain felt balance. He no longer needed someone to correct for the madness that he had suffered for all of his life.

He didn't have time to ponder this as suddenly he saw what Raziel had known about from the beginning. It was a parasite, feeding off of the misery of the world, and it must be stopped.

 _AN: Well, I got the sudden idea to make one of these... novelization of a scene? I wanted to do just the confrontation at the Sanctuary, then I decided to add Raziel's death, then I decided to do the Chronoplast scene. I accept negative reviews, so don't be afraid to speak up if something bothered you. Praise is also appreciated._


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